The ISS Impaler was commissioned by the Imperial Starfleet Command on Stardate 326301.10 (January 10, 2273) as part of the Imperial Protection Program and was one of the most advanced ships in the Imperial Fleet. The ship was launched from the Imperial Shipyards at Earth on Stardate 326503.05 (March 05, 2273) and assigned to the Kalandra Sector under the command of Admiral Valock, Commanding Officer of the sector. The Impaler was the flagship of Imperial Battle Group 416 which assisted in the defense of the Empire’s western boarder with the Cardassion Union.

Imperial Battle Group 416 successfully executed its patrol along the Bajoran Sector which had recently been returned to the Bajoran’s with Emperor Spock’s Directive 227 which returned occupied territory to their original inhabitants. Admiral Valock was a distinguished officer in the Imperial Navy. The Executive Officer of the ISS Impaler is Commander James Styles. Commander Styles has not been the most effective officer and is not well respected by the crew. Over all the ISS Impaler maintained the peace and saw very little action until Stardate 327312.01 (October 31, 2273).

THE CROSSOVER:

On Stardate 327312.01 (October 31, 2273), the ISS Impaler was patrolling along the boarder of Bajoran Space when it detected another Terran Ship heading towards the boarder. The other Terran vessel was identified as the ISS Cutless an Oberth Class Scout. Admiral Valock attempted to make contact with the Cutless to determine the reason why they were heading towards Bajoran Space along a heading towards the Cardassian Union. The hails went unanswered and Admiral Valock determined that the ship was defecting to the Cardassians and must be destroyed. Admiral Valock ordered the cloaking device activated and pursued the Cutless at Warp 9. As the Impaler began its pursuit Science Officer Lieutenant Martaya noticed that the Cutless has increased speed to Warp 9.5 which was impossible for that class of vessel.

After reporting this information to Admiral Valock, he (Valock) ordered Engineering to transfer all available power to the engines to overtake the Cutless. Engineering reported that the engines are taking damage from the increased speed. Once getting into weapons range the Impaler fired 2 Quantum Torpedoes to know the Cutless out of warp. When the torpedoes hit the shields took the impact. Another odd occurrence, the Oberth Class has limited armaments and should be no match for the superior Constitution Class. The Cutless returned fire which hit directly on target and damaged the shields. Admiral Valock couldn’t understand how the Cutless could lock onto the Impaler. The cloaking device makes the ship invisible to sensors and prevents weapons lock but for some reason they were able to penetrate the field.

Once the Cutless crossed over into Cardassian Space, 2 Cardassian Patrol Ships were dispatched to intercept the Terran Scout. The Cardassians were unable to detect the oncoming Impaler due to the Cloaking Field. The Cutless dropped out of warp in Cardassian Space and turned to engage the Impaler. When the battle began the Cutless opened up with extremely powerful pulse phasers and they tore into the Impaler’s shields. The Impaler returned fire and initiated evasive maneuvers and it seemed that every attack made by the Impaler was ineffective against the smaller Cutless it was obvious that this ship was heavily enhanced with new technology.

During one of the Cutless’ barrages they landed a direct hit on the starboard warp nacelle which caused an overload that severely injured Admiral Valock. Valock even though being a Vulcan couldn’t take this injury. Commander Styles called for emergency medical assistance to the bridge to help the Admiral. He assumed command of the Impaler and continued the battle. At this time the 2 Cardassian ships arrived and began attacking both vessels. Now the Impaler had 3 vessels to contend with and the only advantage the impaler had was that the Cardassian ships could not target the ship.

As the Impaler continued to take damage Commander Styles ordered any and all measures be taken to destroy the Cutless as quickly as possible so they could return to Terran Space and regroup with Battle Group 416. The Cutless came around for another pass and the Impaler stopped suddenly and allowed the Cutless fly over and they fired all weapons at close-range which caused massive damage to the Cutless crippling it. The close proximity of the explosions from the Cutless damaged the cloaking device, which gave the Cardassians partial weapons lock. The Impaler turned to fight the patrol ships. These patrol ships stood no chance against the Terran Warship, but during the brief engagement Lieutenant Martaya detected an unusual energy buildup within the Cutless. It was determined that they had less than 30 seconds to escape before the massive explosion.

Commander Styles ordered the helm to set a course back to Terran Space and engage at maximum warp. Unfortunately the damage to the starboard warp nacelle caused an engine imbalance which also delayed the warp initiation. After successfully destroying one of the patrol ships the Impaler jumped to warp right as the Cutless exploded and the Impaler was caught in the explosive shockwave just as the ship entered warp, which caused the ship to spiral out of control and causing massive damage to the ship. After the shockwave passed the ISS Impaler was gone.

ARRIVAL IN THE ‘MIRROR’ UNIVERSE:

Lieutenant Martaya awoke underneath his science station to a dark smoke filled bridge lit only by a few flickering consoles and the foggy red glow of the red alert lights. Martaya noticed the body of Commander Styles lying on the deck next to the Captain’s Chair and tried to wake him but noticed that he was dead. In fact when he looked around the bridge and noticed that all the bridge officers were dead. Martaya attempted to contact Sick Bay for assistance but got no answer. He then tried to get the computer to respond and noticed it was off-line as well.

Martaya managed to bypass some emergency power from the emergency batteries to get a partial damage report. The ship was severely damaged and almost all primary systems were off-line. A quick scan of the ship revealed that all crewmembers were dead and that he was the sole survivor. Martaya decided to call for help from Starfleet but first he needed to know where they were. Martaya managed to get partial short-range sensors working and it reported the ships position as near the outer-rim of the plasma storms (Badlands). He managed to get the impulse engines working to move the ship into a dense area of highly charged plasma particles to act as a nebula to hide the ship.

The Impaler struggled to move but managed to hide. Martaya transferred some power to the communication array to get a message to Starfleet. But with most of the systems down and very little power available Martaya wasn’t even sure if his message was being transmitted. Martaya then proceeded to attempt to combine the Engineering & Science stations together so that he could work on both areas from the bridge. His ultimate objective was to try to repair the ship as much as possible while waiting for a rescue. Martaya began to automate the Impaler so that all functions could be controlled from the bridge, those functions that were working any way.

Martaya had setup a sensor net to alert him if any ships approach the Impaler. He was especially worried because of being in Cardassian Space and the time it would take Imperial vessels to reach the Impaler. While working on the primary systems the computer signaled that a ship was approaching. Martaya checked sensors but it was unable to get a clear reading of the vessel. All he knew that it was a small vessel with an unfamiliar design. Martaya decided to contact the strange vessel so he opened a short-range channel. “This is Lieutenant Martaya of the Imperial Starship Impaler. Identify yourself!”